On February 21, 1985 Joseph Francis Henry, a man who molested 22 girls, aged 9 to 11, testified before the Permanent Subcommittee on Governmental Affairs before the United States Senate, Ninety-Ninth Congress.
In 1971 Henry was caught molesting nudist girls at the New Jersey nudist camp he managed, but charges were not filed against him by the club or by the girls' parents. This left Henry free to move to California where he became involved in the same child prostitution and pornography ring that Tim Wilcox was involved in.
Henry took part in a treatment program at Patton State Hospital, the same program that classified Tim Wilcox as "unamenable to treatment" after four years of incarceration.
What follows is the testimony of Joseph Henry, nudist and convicted child molester:

MR. HENRY: Thank you, Senator Roth. I'd like to thank you and the subcommittee staff for allowing me to testify about my life as a pedophile, my life of molesting children and the damage I've inflicted on my victims and their families. My testimony may be uncomfortable to some people, but it has to be that way because adults must learn to spot the Joe Henry's of the world. I hope no one thinks what I say here today is designed to win sympathy for myself. It isn't. Your sympathy must go to my victims-22 little girls, age 6 to 14-who I molested since 1949. They will likely carry these emotional scars for the rest of their lives.I was born on Dec. 15, 1934, in New York city. I am now incarcerated in California, where in 1978, I pleaded guilty to four counts of committing lewd acts upon children. These children were girls between the ages of 8, 9, and 10 and were molested by me and a group of men over a period of several years. The father of the 8-year-old girl is also in California State Prison because he was renting out his daughter to members of the group for $100 a session. I was one of the men who paid $100 for his daughter.

[Chuck Hughes, the father, was a photographer who was very active in the nudist lifestyle, and whose work appeared frequently in the American Sunbathing Association Publications. and convicted on conspiracy and and child prostitution related charges for his involvement in this child prostitution and pornography ring.]

I was a lonely and asthmatic child growing up in New York City. I had few friends and was raised by my aunt and grandmother. I saw my father three times in my life. Except for my health and my loneliness, I would say I had a pretty normal childhood. I read books, listened to classical music, went to Saturday matinees and had my favorite radio programs, just like any other children.As with most child molesters, I too, was molested as a child. It happened when I was 12. By the age 14, I was, again, molested by the man who lived next door to me, a man who always seemed friendly and approachable. I first came to him just as someone to talk to, but after a while, I couldn't talk to him unless I also let him copulate me. It was a time of traumatic tragedy, a time for my secret sex education that would lead me into this hell called pedophilia.By the time I was 24, I had molested 14 young girls and had been arrested twice and sent to State hospitals, one for l8 months.I used all the normal techniques used by pedophiles. I bribed my victims; I pleaded with them, but I also showed them affection and attention they thought they were not getting anywhere else. Almost without exception, every child I molested was lonely and longing for attention. For example, I would take my victims to movies and to amusement parks. When I babysat them, I would let them stay up past their bedtime if they let me fondle them. One little 8-year-old girl I was babysitting came over to my house one day soaking wet from a rainstorm. I told her I'd pay her $1 if she would stay undressed for an hour. This incident opened the door for 3 years of molestation.I used these kinds of tricks on children all the time. Their desire to be loved, their trust of adults, their normal sexual playfulness and their inquisitive minds made them perfect victims. I never saw any outward emotional damage in one of my victims until 1971 when I was 36 and the manager of a nudist park in New Jersey.I was able to see many children nude and grew particularly attracted to a 9-year-old named Kathy. I once bought her five Christmas presents. She was the first little girl I ever forced myself upon and the first whose molestation was not premeditated. I actually saw the trauma and the terror on her face after I had molested her. The incident made me leave the camp.For the next 3 years, I was fighting all kinds of urges. I hadn't yet discovered child pornography, and I didn't want to just pick up children off the street. If I had not been under a psychiatrist's care at this time, I probably would have committed suicide. The doctor helped me with my hatred for my father, my fear of adult women, but he couldn't do anything for my urges towards little children.Around 1974, when I was beginning to hang around 42nd Street porno shops in New York City, I got my first exposure to commercial child pornography. I got to be friends with one of the porn shop owners and one day he showed me a magazine that just arrived called Nudist Moppets . There were paperback books with stories of child sex, adult/child sex. The films in the peep shows were of men with girls, boys with girls and a few that looked like families together in sexual activity.Eventually, I put together a photographic collection of 500 pages of children in sexually explicit poses. Before long, films started coming in and I bought a film projector.I started reading some of the pornographic tabloids called Screw, Finger and Love, which were filled with all types of sex stories, ads and listings for pen pals. At least one of the issues was devoted to a pedophilic theme. In one issue of Finger, there was an ad about organizations that were devoted to sexual intimacy between children and adults. I wrote to three of them-Better Life, the Guyon Society and the Childhood Sensuality Circle. Better Life and the Childhood Sensuality Circle responded, so I sent in the membership fee to join them.I was disappointed with the Better Life publication because it was a homosexual pedophilia newsletter and my sexual interest was girls. However, in the third issue, there was an ad that had a street number to write instead of the usual coded numbers. I wrote to them, and a few weeks later, I received a letter from a man named Lance Carlson. His real name is John Duncan, and he was a central figure in the child prostitution ring I eventually got involved in.In his letter to me, Duncan wanted assurance I was not a cop or any other such person trying to entrap him. He also wanted to hear about my experiences, past or present. I wrote and said I wasn't a police officer. I also told him about Barbara, the first girl I molested and how I got interested in little girls. We began a long correspondence. This was in October of 1975.Duncan began telling me about two girls he was molesting at the time, Tammy and Lisa, ages 8 and 9. He also sent me their nude photos. It was only after I successfully returned his nude photos that he began to trust me and get into very explicit details about his molestation with the girls.I was desperate for friendship, someone who understood my obsession with children. My letters to Duncan ran as long as nine-typed pages. I would sign them, "A fellow little girls lover." I offered to trade photos. I even gave him my phone number, and he called me collect.In February of 1976, I wrote Duncan telling him I planned to travel to California in the summer and would like to attend a "child sex orgy," and I would be very glad to pay for this privilege. I wrote him, "I want to assure you that I can keep my mouth shut." He began telling me so many things about Tammy and Lisa and implying they would be available for me if they liked me when I came to California. I began sending Duncan money and presents to give to the girls. Duncan also told me about a "cute blue-eyed blond." He was referring to 8-year-old Yvonne who Duncan said I would be able to have sex with for $100 a session.I finally traveled to California on July 1, 1976. Duncan brought Tammy and Lisa over to my motel where I was staying. That day, I could not have the children alone to myself because Duncan had arranged for another member of the ring to molest them. Several days later, Duncan and I molested Tammy and Lisa in my motel room. Then we went to a nearby park where I pushed the girls on some swings. While we were there, Duncan met with Yvonne's father in the park and apparently was arranging for me to rent his daughter.A few days later, after paying Duncan the $100 that we agreed would be given to Yvonne's father, I had this 8-year-old to myself for about 6 hours during which time I molested her. When I was unable to take Yvonne home that night because I didn't have a car, Yvonne's father phoned my motel room and said that since I was keeping her overnight, it would cost me another $100.At that time, this was the height of my pedophilic experiences. It was a dream come true. After returning to New York, I wrote Duncan and described what the trip meant to me:"I really don't know what I enjoyed the most of all the wonderful things that happened, there were so many of them to choose from. If it wasn't for all the photos here on my desk, I would think it was just a fantastic dream. I will always be grateful to you for taking me out of hell and giving me a brief taste of Heaven."I recount those letters, Senator, not to appear sensational, but only to try and convey how deep my obsession was. I spent virtually every waking moment thinking about children I molested. This type of letter writing is very typical with pedophiles. Some pedophiles survive through explicit letters and the purchase or trading of child pornography because live victims are not always available. These letters were a release for me. They allowed me to relive everything with Tammy, Lisa and Yvonne. I wasn't sure I could go through with actually paying someone to have sex with their daughter. It was obvious Yvonne had been rented to several other men. The first thing she said to me that night that I had her alone was, "What would you like me to do?" The next day when her father came to pick her up, the first thing he said was, "Did you cooperate?"You might wonder what are these children really like? How do they act when they are with a group of men who are molesting them? Truthfully, they are manipulated psychologically to such a degree that their facial expressions are blank, as though they are saying, "Just get it over with."Do they cry or fight off my advances? Usually not. Remember, in the child's mind, they think they are as guilty as I am. They know other little boys and girls don't do this, so they must not be good children. They are overwhelmed with shame most of the time and simply comply with the wishes of the adult. Can you imagine what must have gone through the mind of little 8-year-old Yvonne as her father would deliver her to yet another strange man who would keep her for a few hours at a time, molesting her whenever he had the urge to do so?One of my most vivid memories was of Lisa during my second visit to California. The second time I saw her, it was obvious someone in the group had brutalized her, possibly raped her. She told me she didn't want to be photographed and said several times, "Please don't hurt me. Just don't hurt me."Yvonne's father is now serving a 14-year sentence in California State Prison. I understand from reliable sources, Yvonne may never be normal again.During this time, 1975 and 1976, I was actively involved in the San Diego-based pedophilia organization, the Childhood Sensuality Circle (CSC), which I understand your subcommittee examined briefly in your hearings last November. I corresponded with Valida Davila, the head of the CSC, and did some typing for her. As was the practice with the CSC, Davila also put me in touch with other pedophiles. I can't stress enough that this group and others, regardless of their publicly stated goals, are in practice little more than contact services for pedophiles. These groups serve as a reinforcement for pedophiles and a constant source for new friendships and, thus, a supply of new victims.By November 1976, I was back in New York when I received a phone call from a man named Eric Cross. Cross was a friend of John Duncan, and he said he understood I was looking for a woman with small children who would agree to marry me so that I could be a father and feel like an adult, not just to molest children. At that time, I had no idea who Cross was, but I later learned he was a child pornographer, publisher of Lolitots magazine and a pedophile with connections not only through the United States, but in several foreign countries as well. I understand he is now in Florida State Prison and facing a Federal trial on charges of distribution of child pornography.I went to Los Angeles in the fall of 1977 to meet with Cross. For several nights, I met with Cross to look at child porn photos he was sending out of the country. Cross and I were at the motel examining photos of naked children that he was sending to a source in Canada. As we left the hotel one night, we were arrested. The police had to release me through lack of evidence, and I was able to return to New York, but some weeks later, I was rearrested in New York by U.S. Customs agents.After my arrest, I learned that numerous other men had come to Los Angeles and San Diego from 1974 to 1976 to molest children John Duncan made available to us. Various motels and homes of two men were used as locations for the molestation. The children were also photographed during sessions with the men.Although I did not participate in this, one of the men, I can't be sure which, apparently sold photos to the Dutch child porn magazine Lolita because in the Lolita issues 29, 30, and 31, there were shots of Tammy and Yvonne in various explicit poses.I cannot begin to imagine the damage that was done to these children by what I and others did to them. Like the alcoholic, there is no known cure of pedophilia. The pedophile must realize he has a problem and wants help. That is the first step, and that's why the therapy I am now receiving at Patton State Hospital in California has played such a big part in why I am here today.There are some lessons parents should learn from my story. First of all, parents should establish a kind of relationship with their children where they feel comfortable coming to their parents with any problem. I know that's easier said than done, but particularly in the area of child molestation, parents should emphasize to the child that he or she will never be punished for telling about such activities.Parents should not be paranoid about their children having friendships with adults, but they should use common sense. Say for example, there is an adult friend in the family, a neighbor, a co-worker, someone from church or school, and they are lavishing attention on your children, like bringing gifts to them when they come to the house, offering to take them to the parks, ball games, that kind of thing, yet they don't do these activities with the parents or other adults you trust, well, that's at least worth questioning.I know how uncomfortable that may sound. What I just have said may describe one of the closest friends some people have.It describes the relationships I had with my victims' parents, but the key is the true pedophile will want to be alone with your child, not just around while you are there, but alone.Now, obviously, the other vital element in the equation is the child. If the child shows any resistance to being left alone with this family friend, maybe you should consider why. Maybe it's not just normal childhood fear of being left by his parents. That's why it's important for children to know they can come to their parents about anyone, even one who is mommy's and daddy's best friend.No matter what is done, there will never be an end to child molestation, but if every State had a therapy program like Patton State Hospital, not simply prison, at least for the first-time offender, we may be able to turn him around so he will not again molest children.It may occur to some here today to ask if I am able to calmly recount my history and take all the blame for these crimes I've committed, that maybe there is hope for curing pedophiles. I am here to tell you I don't know if that is true. All I know is that pedophilia is wrong. I know that in my gut, but what the future holds for me I cannot honestly say.I thank you for letting me appear today.

See part II where he is questioned by the committee next on this thread.

Reprinted from theICONoclast.

Comments, feedback and information about individual pedophiles are welcomed.